


Memories

by Weissnichtwo (LoudenSwain713)



Series: vows of the faithless [2]
Category: The Old Guard (2020 Movie), The Old Guard (2020)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, Happy Ending, Hopeful Ending, I didn't tag mcd because...immortal, Immortality, It's okay though, Loss of Identity, Pain, but she is trapped at the bottom of the ocean for five centuries and that is addressed, or at the very least
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:34:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25212517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoudenSwain713/pseuds/Weissnichtwo
Summary: Her first full breath in centuries is static, sharp, unused to the abundance of oxygen.Voices reach her, close and sharp enough to be real. Her own words were always lost in the current, snatched away before she could remember what they meant. She does not remember what the voices mean, either. Pain, after five centuries, is not an easy concept to part with. It is all she remembers.
Series: vows of the faithless [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1829116
Comments: 20
Kudos: 168





	Memories

**Author's Note:**

> I've never joined a fandom this early, but I'm kind of living for this whole "there's not a fandom tag for this movie yet" thing.  
> I haven't read the comics and this is based solely on the movie alone. Enjoy!

Life.

Light reaches her eyes for a moment, fading and far away.

Death.

Life.

The metal bites into her skin, cold and immovable. It has not changed in five hundred years.

Death.

Life.

Sometimes the water takes longer to fill her lungs. Her head bangs against the metal, hard enough to split bone.

Death.

Life.

Her lungs heal faster than her skull. She spends several resurrections with the chill of the Pacific in her bones long before the air runs out.

Death.

Life.

Her scream startles no one but herself, allowing the water, far too much and far too soon, into her system.

Death.

Life.

The light is blocked now, a dark blot in a darker void.

Death.

Life.

Something is coming.

Death.

Life.

.

.

.

Air.

Her first full breath in centuries is static, sharp, unused to the abundance of oxygen. Her skin is warm; for a moment, she thinks she is burning. But her chest keeps rising, up and down, in and out, and the thought dies. Fire steals the air from you, takes it and hides it away in the folds of its many sleeves. She is not burning.

Voices reach her, close and sharp enough to be real. Her own words were always lost in the current, snatched away before she could remember what they meant. She does not remember what the voices mean, either. Pain, after five centuries, is not an easy concept to part with. It is all she remembers.

.

.

.

It is not all she remembers, but denial is no easier to part with than pain.

The memories come forward then, fast and unrelenting. They are not what she wants. She would like to know the words for gratitude and peace. She would like to ask what food they carry with them and if she could have some, please. She would like to remember her name. But she does not. What reaches her instead is the feeling of bone snapping beneath her body, the quick glide of blade against throat. She remembers how to sweep a leg and roll, silently, upwards. It is the only information she can find, and she has to dive deep between the waves to even reach it. It is all she has. It is all she does. 

She does not remember the words for please or no, not even after frantic, screaming repetition.

When she steps onto dry land for the first time in many, many years, she remembers. She remembers the feeling of sunlight, gentle, not burning. She remembers battles sealed not with blood and confusion but with laughter and safety. She remembers family. She remembers the words for please and no. She remembers how it felt to sew shut the wound of an enemy, to give rather than to take. And she weeps.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so so much for taking the time to read this! Kudos and comments are appreciated :)


End file.
